“Maria, thank you for passing on that hit piece on the front page of the New York Times,” Cruz sarcastically told moderator Maria Bartiromo. “You know the nice thing about the mainstream media is they don’t hide their views.”

He said he was forced to take a loan because his opponent during that senate race had deep pockets, adding that he and his wife ended up investing everything they owned.

He called the failure to disclose the loan a “paperwork error.”

During his closing statement Cruz brought up yet another film, the upcoming movie “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” which focuses on the 2012 Libyan attacks that killed four American citizens including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens.

“Tomorrow morning a new movie will debut about the incredible bravery of the men fighting for their lives in Benghazi and the politicians that abandoned them,” Cruz said, referring to Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration.

15 Most Cringe-Worthy Gaffes From Presidential Debates

1960: During the first televised presidential debate, Richard Nixon refused to wear stage makeup, revealing his sweaty forehead under the hot TV lights. This made the younger John F. Kennedy look much more confident.

John F. Kennedy Library Foundation

1976: Gerald Ford claimed that he didn't believe that Eastern Europe was under "Soviet domain," which proved to be an unpopular opinion, as the moderator repeated the question in bewilderment.

Getty Images

1980: When the moderator tried to silence Ronald Reagan's microphone during a Republican primary debate, Reagan shouted: "I am paying for this microphone!" The line became a "political home run" for Reagan. It was also borrowed it from the 1948 film "State of the Union."

1980: In a general-election debate between incumbent president Jimmy Carter and Reagan, Carter said, “I had a discussion with my daughter Amy the other day before I came here to ask her what the most important issue was. She said she thought the control of nuclear weaponry.” Carter was mocked for taking policy advice from his 13-year-old daughter, helping Reagan to win the election.

ReaganFoundation

1988: Michael Dukakis may have lost the election when he said he would still oppose the death penalty even if the killer raped and murdered his wife, Kitty.

1992: George H.W. Bush checked his watch and tucked in his shirt during his debate with future president Bill Clinton, looking impatient when asked about the economy.

C-Span

2000: Al Gore sighed during a debate with George W. Bush, which was widely perceived as condescending. It was so bad, aides made him watch the "SNL" parody of the gaffe before the next debate.

Getty Images

2008: Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama for allegedly lifting lines from the speeches of Massachusetts politician Duval Patrick. She had a good zinger... that didn't quite have the effect she was hoping for. "Lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox," Clinton said -- but the audience booed.

CNN

2008: When a moderator asked Hillary Clinton if she had the personal appeal to overtake Barack Obama, the future president interjected that Clinton was "likable enough."

CBS

2008: While illustrating a point about a Bush/Cheney energy bill that Obama had signed, Arizona Senator John McCain referred to the future president as "that one."

Getty Images

2011: Texas Gov. Rick Perry shifted his reputation from budget-slasher to bungler when he blanked on the names of all three federal agencies he proposed to eliminate as president: "I can’t, the third one. I can’t. Sorry. Oops."

2016: When asked during an interview in September what he would do about Aleppo, the epicenter of the Syrian refugee crisis, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson asked, "And what is Aleppo?" That line became a viral sensation, even earning some rather funny spoofs. Johnson then made things worse when later that month he couldn't name a single world leader -- dead or alive -- during a town hall with Chris Matthews. And just to be sure this second flub would get some traction, Johnson told Matthews he was having an "Aleppo moment." Talk about about a triple whammy.

MSNBC

2016: Green Party presidential candidate JillS Stein was hoping to be the answer to Bernie Sanders after he dropped out of the primary race. But answer she gave during an AMA reddit sesh put a damper on her plans. Stein, a Harvard Medical School graduate, raised some eyebrows when she took a decidedly anti-vaxxer stance: "As a medical doctor, there was a time where I looked very closely at those issues, and not all those issues were completely resolved. There were concerns among physicians about what the vaccination schedule meant, the toxic substances like mercury which used to be rampant in vaccines. There were real questions that needed to be addressed." Stein later clarified that she was not, in fact, an opponent of vaccines.

Getty

1 of 15

From Richard Nixon’s flop sweat to Rick Perry‘s “Sorry oops,” candidates have often stumbled at the podium

1960: During the first televised presidential debate, Richard Nixon refused to wear stage makeup, revealing his sweaty forehead under the hot TV lights. This made the younger John F. Kennedy look much more confident.